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The collections of Maria Stein-Lessing and Leopold Spiegel are the first exhibition in the new African art wing at Museum Africa, opened to mark Africa Day.
The first exhibition in the new wing is called l’Afrique: a tribute to Maria Stein-Lessing and Leopold Spiegel
MUSEUM Africa is to get a new wing next week, to be called the Spiegel/Stein-Lessing Wing for African Art.
Due to open on Africa Day, on Monday, 25 May, the first exhibition in the new wing is called l'Afrique: a tribute to Maria Stein-Lessing and Leopold Spiegel. It will showcase a heritage collection of African art and artefacts collected by Stein-Lessing and her husband, Spiegel, over several decades.
The exhibition is curated by Nessa Leibhammer and Natalie Knight. A book, entitled L'Afrique, has also been produced, edited by Knight.
Stein-Lessing and Spiegel immigrated to South Africa from Germany in the 1930s. She became fascinated with African art and artefacts, and by the mid-1940s had assembled a large collection of carvings, beadwork and other artefacts, as well as paintings by Maggie Laubscher and Alexis Preller, among others.
"Stein-Lessing and Spiegel were aware of the fact that the great masters of 20th century art in Europe such as Picasso, Gauguin, and Matisse had been inspired by African art," according to a press statement.
"Due to the conservative political climate at the time, most South Africans were completely unaware of indigenous art and the invaluable future role it would play on the world stage. They did not recognise it as art and rather labelled it as ‘ethnography'."
Collection distributed
After her death in 1961, most of Stein-Lessing's collection was absorbed into the collections of Museum Africa, then called the Africana Museum; the Johannesburg Art Gallery; the University of the Witwatersrand; and the Natalie Knight Collection. Museum Africa has close to 500 items from her collection.
Mpondo beaded tassle ornament
Knight says of Stein-Lessing: "She is remembered by those close to her as an eccentric person and an outstanding teacher whose wide knowledge and passion for art left an indelible mark on her students and her adopted country."
The couple travelled extensively in Africa, particularly to countries in east Africa, in search of art. Stein-Lessing opened an art shop in the Joburg CBD in the 1940s, and Knight says the shop "became a vital reference point for students and collectors of African art".
Tributes to Stein-Lessing in the book include those from artists like the late Cecil Skotnes and Judith Mason, and from art historians like Esmé Berman, Elizabeth Rankin, and Eric Fernie, the former director of the Courtauld Institute of Art in London.
"Today these collections are valuable assets and evidence of just how rich our African art heritage is."
Spiegel became concerned that her collection would be forgotten, and on his death in 2006 bequeathed a sum of money to allow their collection of art and artefacts to be revived and exhibited. The result is the new wing of the museum, and the publication.
An Ndzundza doll
"The lifestyle and personality of Maria Stein-Lessing evokes almost as much interest as the artefacts she collected," says the statement.
To this end, David Krut Publishing has produced a limited edition hardcover book. "The book, edited by Natalie Knight, highlights Stein-Lessing's foresight and describes her Bohemian lifestyle through the eyes and words of her University of the Witwatersrand students, whose lives she touched."
Proceeds from the book will go towards providing educational programmes and art bursaries for the disabled.
The exhibition will run for 18 months, until the end of 2010. The museum is in Bree Street, in Newtown. Entrance is free. It is open from Tuesdays to Sundays, from 9am to 5pm.
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